Longtime OCC worker remembered as ‘wonderful’

Marisa O’Neil

Idamae Keily, a fixture at Orange Coast College for more than 40

years, died Christmas day at the age of 92.

“She was such a wonderful part of this campus,” said OCC spokesman

Jim Carnett, who worked with Keily. “When I first started working

here in 1971, she had already been here 11 years. She introduced me

to the department and helped me to adjust. She seemed to know

everything about the campus and was a very popular person.”

When Keily started working in Orange Coast College’s community

relations office in 1960, at the age of 49, she typed up the school’s

press releases on a Royal manual typewriter.

In the early 1970s, they upgraded her to an electric typewriter

and later to a more advanced version. By the time she retired at 75,

she had worked her way up to a computer.

Born in Salt Lake City, Idamae Campbell moved with her family to

Los Angeles as a child. She married Tom Keily in 1937 and settled in

Newport Beach.

After her husband’s death in 1959, she decided to take her first

job. A friend from her church, Thelma Harwood, worked as a secretary

at Orange Coast College and suggested Keily do the same.

“For the next two and a half decades, she was the glue that held

the department together,” Carnett wrote in his monthly column,

“Orange Slices,” in December.

In 1989, the school awarded her an honorary associate of arts

degree.

Even after her retirement at age 75, Carnett said he kept a desk

for her at the school. She still came into work a few days a week,

until she was diagnosed with leukemia in November and moved to the

Bay Area to be closer to her daughter.

“She didn’t want to move out of Costa Mesa,” longtime friend and

co-worker Signe Johnson said of Keily. “OCC was really her home, and

we liked to take care of her. But she realized her daughter wanted

her closer and was totally positive about moving. She was so easy to

be around. I’ll miss her smiles, but I feel lucky we had her as long

we did.”

Keily is survived by her daughters, Laurie and Kathleen, and her

two grandchildren. A memorial scholarship in her honor has been

established by OCC’s foundation.